company in pennsylvania today to call on congress toextendtaxcutsfor the middle class. president obama playing a little hardball accusing republicans of playing politics at the expense of american families. >> it's not acceptable to me and i don't think it's acceptable to for you republicans to hold tax cuts hostage because they don't want rates on upper folks to go up. >> john boehner scheduled a last minute news conference. fired back with this. >> increasing tax rates draws money away from our economy that needs to be invested in our economy to put the american people back to work. it's the wrong approach. >> as the rhetoric heats up, the clock continues to tick down. after today, there are just ten legislative days on the calendar. the house announced they will be recessing one day early next would he week. joining me now from the white house, white house correspondent kristen welker. what's the latest from 1600 pennsylvania? >> well, good afternoon, craig. as you can see the holiday decorations are going up here at the white house. but it doesn't seem like anyone is in the holiday

with the fiscal cliff and there's hot rhetoric to go around. >> our members believe strongly thatraisingtaxrateswill hurt the economy. closing loopholes, especially on those who are wealthy, is a better way to raise this revenue. >> in order for us to raise the amount of revenue that's needed just by closing deductions and loopholes for high earners we'd have to, for example, eliminate or severely cap the char itible deduction. >> an obsession to raise taxes not going to solve the problem. what will solve the problem is doing something about the entitlements, taking on the wasteful spending in washington. >> and meantime, "the new york times" jonathan wiseman reports behind the scene republican leaders are considering the president's plan to extend middle class tax cuts now an address the debt and spending in the new year. here's republican senator tom coburn on "morning joe." >> actually, i would rather see the rates go up than the other way and greater chance to broaden the base in the future. >> do something, a down payment on cuts, on investments and revenue this year. and then in the

time ago saying he'll answer questions about the cliff, his proposal andpendingtaxhikeson the official white house twitter feed. press secretary jay carney insisted the white house is still optimistic it can reach a deal with congressional republicans. >> there has been progress, and we can achieve a bipartisan agreement. the obstacle remains at this point the refusal to acknowledge by republican leaders that there is no deal that achieves the kind of balance that is necessary without raising rates on the top 2%. >> and there are just 29 days to go for the two parties to find some sort of middle ground, and joining me now from the white house nbc news correspondent kristen welker. what's the back story on this it twitter q and a for the president, which should start any minute now? >> reporter: that's right. this is part of president obama's full court press to get the public on board to pressure republicans to sign on to his plan to increase taxes for those making $250,000 or more. he had his first twitter town hall in 2011 when he answered questions about jobs and the

that the public really wants those higher rates for the higher earners in termsoftaxes. senatorreid and other democrats don't want to talk about specific cuts or entitlement reforms publicly. everyone saying they don't want to negotiate from the podium. but everyone is aware it's the end of november. there isn't a lot of time left. and how quickly and how peacefully can they come to a resolution is a real question. it's a long process and today is one of those data points where i think you get a sense that people are a bit frustrated. >> he tried to bush boehner on the details. he pushes back about not wanting to get boxed in. it's a confusing they take to the microphone to talk about it then don't want to talk about it at the same time. >>> politico is reporting that a framework for fiscal negotiations has already emerged. here is what they say to expect. about $1.2 trillion in tax increases on the wealthy. at least $400 billion in entitlement cuts mainly from medicare, not to mention spending cuts. that figure, at least $1.2 trillion, according to politico. let's bring in news nation politi

but not withouthighertaxesforthe wealthy. the president sat down with bloomberg for his first tv interview since the election and the fiscal cliff face off. he reiterated that lying in the sand is higher taxes for the wealthy. he gave republicans some room to maneuver. >> the issue right now that's relevant is the acknowledgment that if we're going to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with the very tough cuts that we've already made and the further reforms and entitlemented ientitlements i'm prepared to make, we have to see the rates on the top 2% go up. we're not getting a deal without it. understand the reason for that. it's not me being stubborn or partisan, it's a matter of math. >> and the gop plan, which was unveiled yesterday, includes $800 bill onin new taxes made through closing loopholes and deductions and not raising rates. compare that to the president's plan and that's about half of what the white house asked for. republicans propose 600 billion in entitlement saving including raising the medicare requirement to 67, nearly twice what the white house called for. the

has now trying to get past republican opposition toraisingtaxesonthe wealthy, tamron. >> mike, thank you very much. moving along to the further conversation on susan rice, joining me now, joel reuben, mike smerkonish and erin mcpike. thank you all for joining me. you have people at this point wondering if this is all about the battle that some republicans see ahead for the nomination of secretary of state and it's no longer about the benghazi investigation. i ask this question based on remarks made by susan collins today, senator corker and senator john mccain all related to the secretary of state position. let me play all of these comments together and get your reaction. >> i would need to have additional information before i could support her nomination. >> i would just ask the president to step back for a moment and realize that all of us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most cabinet members. >> john kerry came been a whisper of being president of the united states. i think that works in his favor but i'd love to hear him make his case. i d